August Review

Bird #140 was heard at 5:45 this morning--a Great Horned Owl calling from the drainage slump next to the house. While I hit a few spots in Ocean County today, no new birds for the month were added. In all, it was a very good month, helped, of course, by taking a couple of field trips with excellent birders from NJ Audubon.

The highlight of the month, of course, was the Reddish Egret we saw last Friday at Brig. That's a true rarity (2nd NJ record). It wasn't seen last weekend, though it did make an appearance on Monday, frustrating dozens of birders. Other oddballs at Brig were the continuing Black-bellied Whistling Duck, a Brant that's hung around and a Snow Goose that also didn't fly north.

Our Delaware trip added lots of shorebirds including American Avocet--just a beautiful bird, even in black and white "alternate" plumage--and Black-necked Stilt, one of the more unlikely looking birds you'll see.

I keep hoping that Double Trouble will turn out to be a hot spot for migrating warblers and vireos. I've had a tantalizing day there when I found a Blue-winged Warbler along with 3 or so more common warblers, but so far nothing exceptional has shown up since, either in numbers or unseen species. Today it was fog-bound for most of my walk and I found very little. However, I did bring back photographs of the private cemetery that is on the grounds of the park. The Crabbes were owners of the Double Trouble Cranberry Company which they sold to the state to make the park. I guess an easement for the burial ground was part of the deal. What's most interesting to me is that the cemetery is active--the most recent interment was last year.

Not to be overlooked was the evening we spent on the Maurice River Bridge watching 100,000 (give or take a few thousand) Purple Martins fill the sky as they came into the marsh to roost. 

It has been a year since we bought the house in Whiting--never did I think I'd have a backyard where I could hear owls and Whip-poor-wills and where Wild Turkeys would graze on the bird seed that the  grackles and cowbirds kick out of the feeders.

Counties Birded:
Delaware: Kent, Sussex
New Jersey: Atlantic, Cumberland, Middlesex, Ocean

Semipalmated Sandpiper, Barnegat Light Jetty 8/31/12

Species                 Count                       First Sighting
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck     1      Brigantine
Snow Goose     1      Brigantine
Brant     1      Brigantine
Canada Goose     115      Brigantine
Mute Swan     6      Brigantine
Wood Duck     5      Bombay Hook NWR
Gadwall     1      Bombay Hook NWR
American Black Duck     17      Brigantine
Mallard     12      Brigantine
Blue-winged Teal     4      Bombay Hook NWR
Northern Shoveler     2      Bombay Hook NWR
Northern Pintail     3      Brigantine
Green-winged Teal     1      Brigantine
Wild Turkey     4      Whiting WMA
Pied-billed Grebe     1      Bombay Hook NWR
Double-crested Cormorant     4      Great Bay Blvd
American White Pelican     1      Brigantine
Brown Pelican     1      Great Bay Blvd
Least Bittern     1      Bombay Hook NWR
Great Blue Heron     1      Great Bay Blvd
Great Egret     50      Great Bay Blvd
Snowy Egret     50      Great Bay Blvd
Little Blue Heron     1      Great Bay Blvd
Tricolored Heron     2      Great Bay Blvd
Reddish Egret     1     Brigantine
Green Heron     2      Bombay Hook NWR
Black-crowned Night-Heron     2      Great Bay Blvd
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron     2      Bombay Hook NWR
Glossy Ibis     13      Great Bay Blvd
Black Vulture     1      Bombay Hook NWR
Turkey Vulture     1      Double Trouble State Park
Osprey     10      Great Bay Blvd
Northern Harrier     1      Brigantine
Cooper's Hawk     1      Bombay Hook NWR
Bald Eagle     1      Maurice River Bridge
Red-tailed Hawk     1      Lincoln Ave
Clapper Rail     1      Maurice River Bridge
Black-bellied Plover     1      Great Bay Blvd
American Golden-Plover     3      Bombay Hook NWR
Semipalmated Plover     7      Great Bay Blvd
American Oystercatcher     2     Mispillion
Black-necked Stilt     4      Bombay Hook NWR
American Avocet     400      Bombay Hook NWR
Spotted Sandpiper     1      Great Bay Blvd
Solitary Sandpiper     1      Great Bay Blvd
Greater Yellowlegs     1      Great Bay Blvd
Willet     3      Brigantine
Lesser Yellowlegs     2      Brigantine
Whimbrel     1      Brigantine
Hudsonian Godwit     1      Bombay Hook NWR
Marbled Godwit     1      Brigantine
Ruddy Turnstone     1      Great Bay Blvd
Sanderling     2      Prime Hook NWR--Fowler Beach Rd.
Semipalmated Sandpiper     25      Great Bay Blvd
Western Sandpiper     1      Great Bay Blvd
Least Sandpiper     1      Great Bay Blvd
White-rumped Sandpiper     2      Brigantine
Pectoral Sandpiper     2      Bombay Hook NWR
Dunlin     1      Brigantine
Stilt Sandpiper     2      Brigantine
Short-billed Dowitcher     6      Great Bay Blvd
Long-billed Dowitcher     3      Brigantine
Wilson's Phalarope     2      Brigantine
Bonaparte's Gull     1      Bombay Hook NWR
Laughing Gull     200      Great Bay Blvd
Ring-billed Gull     1      Brigantine
Herring Gull     50      Great Bay Blvd
Great Black-backed Gull     5      Great Bay Blvd
Least Tern     1      Great Bay Blvd
Gull-billed Tern     6      Brigantine
Caspian Tern     5      Brigantine
Common Tern     1      Brigantine
Forster's Tern     25      Great Bay Blvd
Royal Tern     1      Brigantine
Black Skimmer     26      Brigantine
Rock Pigeon     1      Iselin
Mourning Dove     5      Great Bay Blvd
Yellow-billed Cuckoo     1      Wells Mills Park
Eastern Screech-Owl     1      35 Sunset Rd
Great Horned Owl     1      35 Sunset Rd
Barred Owl     1      Bombay Hook NWR
Eastern Whip-poor-will     1      35 Sunset Rd
Chimney Swift     2      Bombay Hook NWR
Ruby-throated Hummingbird     1      35 Sunset Rd
Belted Kingfisher     1      Great Bay Blvd
Red-bellied Woodpecker     2      Horicon Lake
Downy Woodpecker     1      Whiting WMA
Hairy Woodpecker     2      Double Trouble State Park
Northern Flicker     1      Whiting WMA
Peregrine Falcon     1      Brigantine
Eastern Wood-Pewee     1      35 Sunset Rd
Eastern Phoebe     2      Whiting WMA
Eastern Kingbird     2      Whiting WMA
Red-eyed Vireo     1      Bombay Hook NWR
Blue Jay     4      35 Sunset Rd
American Crow     2      Brigantine
Fish Crow     2      Great Bay Blvd
Horned Lark     10      Whitehall Crossroads - Leipsic
Purple Martin     1      Brigantine
Tree Swallow     500      Great Bay Blvd
Bank Swallow     10      Bombay Hook NWR
Barn Swallow     15      Great Bay Blvd
Carolina Chickadee     1      Great Bay Blvd
Tufted Titmouse     10      Whiting WMA
Red-breasted Nuthatch     1      Great Bay Blvd
White-breasted Nuthatch     5      Whiting WMA
House Wren     11      Whiting WMA
Carolina Wren     1      35 Sunset Rd
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher     1      Whiting WMA
Eastern Bluebird     1      Whiting WMA
Wood Thrush     1      Double Trouble State Park
American Robin     3      Whiting WMA
Gray Catbird     2      Great Bay Blvd
Northern Mockingbird     1      Bombay Hook NWR
Brown Thrasher     1      Prime Hook NWR
European Starling     50      Great Bay Blvd
Cedar Waxwing     1      35 Sunset Rd
Ovenbird     2      Wells Mills Park
Blue-winged Warbler     1      Double Trouble State Park
Black-and-white Warbler     1      Whiting WMA
Common Yellowthroat     1      Great Bay Blvd
Yellow Warbler     3      Brigantine
Pine Warbler     12      Whiting WMA
Prairie Warbler     3      Double Trouble State Park
Eastern Towhee     10      Whiting WMA
Chipping Sparrow     15      Whiting WMA
Field Sparrow     1      Whiting WMA
Saltmarsh Sparrow     1      Great Bay Blvd
Seaside Sparrow     1      Brigantine
Song Sparrow     3      Great Bay Blvd
Northern Cardinal     1      35 Sunset Rd
Blue Grosbeak     3      Bombay Hook NWR
Red-winged Blackbird     50      Great Bay Blvd
Common Grackle     4      35 Sunset Rd
Boat-tailed Grackle     10      Great Bay Blvd
Brown-headed Cowbird     1      Whiting WMA
Baltimore Oriole     1      Prime Hook NWR
House Finch     5      Whiting WMA
American Goldfinch     1      35 Sunset Rd
House Sparrow     6      Iselin